Jane's Children
by PinkyandtheBrainfan88
Summary: What did Jane's son turn out like? Here is a story where he is the main character and a huge change is happening in his life...
1. Chapter 1

"William!" called a high, weary voice. "Dinner is ready!"

"I'll be there soon mamma," replied a young, lower voice. William, the ten year old heir of Ferndean, was not only helping gather wood in the forest near his house, but he was sculpting some of it. He enjoyed carving people, like his mother and father and animals he saw in the forest, like rabbits, pheasants and squirrels. Now he was carving his first duck, a good handsome drake. He had never seen a duck in these woods, but his parents had taken him to a pond in London a few day's ago. He had seen ducks there a great deal and thanks to his mother's cousin Diana, he was able to feed them little bits of bread.

At this present moment, William needed to come in to have his supper. Carrying his knife, box of wood and his unfinished duck carving, William ran through the woods and arrived at the open front door. The smell of cooking meat inside enticed the boy in, much as he would have liked to stay outside and continue his carving. He left his items by the door and rushed in.

"My, how flushed you are, you've been out there for a very long time today," exclaimed William's mother, Jane, as she brushed down his jacket.

"I feel well, mother, I've collected much wood today and started a new sculpture."

"Oh that's good," Jane smiled. "You're so good at that, you know. Keep practising and you may become a good artist."

"Artists paint pictures of people sitting on chairs in tight outifts, _sculptors_ take a piece of rock or wood and make it into something alive and wonderful. I want to be a _sculptor_ when I grow up, mamma."

Jane just smiled and laughed. Her son was growing up a little bolder than she had hoped, but was just glad that he was intelligent and thought things through. She hoped that her new baby, who was not born yet, would grow up to be gracious as well as clever. "All right William. Now, come and eat your bacon and sprouts."

William tried to look pleased for his mother, but the prospect of sprouts was not appealing.

Sitting down at the old wooden table opposite his mother, his father came just at that moment, bringing three plates and he sat down at the end of the table.

"Oh Edward, you really don't need to do so much work," Jane sighed. She was very watchful over William's father, ever since he became blind over ten years ago. When William was a baby Mr Rochester recovered sight in one eye, but it was still quite dangerous for him to do work around the house by himself.

"The cook prepares such wonderful dinners for us every night, it seems respectful to her if we do some preparation every now and again," Mr Rochester cheerfully replied.

All his life William had been told by his father and mother to be respectful to servants, otherwise they may not serve like they should and because they were real people, just like him. It was only recently that he had discovered how horrible most people in their sort of situation were to their servants and this made him glad that his parents had taught him to behave as he did.

Just then, the cook brought in the meal, on a few silver trays with silver lids. The lids were lifted, as they were at every meal time and William breathed in the meaty scent of delicious bacon. He also smelt the rather green, mushy, unappealing sprouts.

The meal was good, but throughout William kept thinking of his carving, what he might change, where he had started on the duck and where he would continue. As he cut his bacon he partly wished the knife he held in his hand was a carving knife rather than one for eating. More than anything though, William wished that he did not have to eat the sprouts. He knew that it would please his mother to eat _some_, as much as he disliked it and only left two on his plate.

"Well done," complimented Mrs Rochester as the plates were taken away. "You ate quite a few. You may go and do your carving now."

"Thank you mamma," William replied, with a beam and ran off back outside. It was summer and it was still light enough for him to finish the duck.

For half an hour he worked right beside the house, chipping away to finish the duck's belly and to make its tail feathers, feet, eyes, closed wings and feather marks. As soon as he had finished, William took a sigh of relief, letting out all his burning need to carve. He had finished for the day, except for one thing.

William was just about to carve his initials, WER, for William Edward Rochester, when suddenly he heard screams coming from the inside of the house. Putting down his knife and duck, William sped indoors, following the screams. He realized they were coming from his mother, lying down on the floor. He watched as the family maid and Edward picked her up, carrying Mrs Rochester to her room.

"William!" called Edward, as soon as he noticed his son. "Please find the messenger and tell him to send for the doctor, Jane will give birth soon."

"Yes father!" shouted William in fright, charging back outside, forgetting to close the front door.

Luckily the messenger was not far, in his little house near Ferndean. William banged on the locked door, not wanting to call out in case he sounded wild. The man opened the door and peered down at Ferndean's heir. "Yes, son?"

"MAMMA'S ABOUT TO GIVE BIRTH!" was all that William told the messenger, but luckily, the man knew what to do. Taking his horse, he started off at full gallop to the doctor, who lived quite a way away in the nearest town.

William just stood outside for about a minute, not quite believing that soon he would have a brother or sister, especially as he had spent all his life without one and his mother had thought she would never be pregnant again.

Finally, it occurred to the boy to go inside and help Jane, so in less than two minutes he was in his mother's room.

"Is there anything else I can do, father?" asked William. At that moment, Jane was not screaming, but panting and holding her husband's hand.

"If you could fetch some candles and matches from downstairs, please, that would be good. We will need them when it becomes dark."

"Will she be like this all night?" William questioned in panic.

"I should think so," replied Mr Rochester. "But with any luck, William, it will be worth it in the end."

Smiling back at his father, William went downstairs to fetch the candles, hoping that the doctor would be there on time to help his mother.


	2. Chapter 2

As William approached the large chest of drawers in the dining room, in which the candles and matches were kept, a large gust of wind blew in from the open window on the other side of the room. Shivering, William rushed over to close it, watching as a torrent of heavy rain came down as if from a waterfall.

"Oh no!" William realized out loud. "The messenger might become too ill to ride to the doctor... And it might be too muddy to get here!"

Poor William felt very frightened by this prospect and was just about to run upstairs to talk to his father about it when he remembered his errand. Fumbling through a drawer that he could only just reach on tiptoe, the boy eventually found two matches and one candle. Soon enough he was upstairs and his mother was screaming again.

"Oh mamma, I wish you were not in such pain!" cried William, giving his father the candle and matches.

"Oh William, you are so sweet," breathed Jane, her face contorted in agony. "You'll have a brother or sister at the end of this, my son."

_Hopefully_, William and Mr Rochester both thought.

"Thank you for the candles, but what took you so long? You look even more upset," commented Edward.

"The weather's _horrible,_ father. I've barely seen it rain so hard as it is raining now!"

Edward looked troubled, but remained calm in front of his wife, whose hand he was still holding.

"If the doctor cannot come here tonight, we will do the best we can. We will pray to ask for Jane to give birth safely."

Little William, stunned into silence with fear, fear that his mother would die, fear at not knowing what his life would be like, knelt down and prayed at his mother's and father's bedside.

"Dear Lord, please make sure mother can give birth without help from the doctor, if he does not arrive on time and please let my new brother or sister be born healthy and well. I thank you for making my mother pregnant, as she and my father want another child so much. Amen."

William smiled meekly at his parents, but had to retreat quickly out of the room as Jane began to scream again. He did not know why she was screaming only some of the time, William found this disconcerting and surprising.

He stood outside the closed bedroom door while he waited for his mother to quieten down and watched the rain patter on the nearest window. William now heard thunder and could not see a trace of the trees less than a mile from their house, it was now too foggy and rainy to make them out.

As soon as William had heard that the noise had died down, he ventured back into the birth chamber, to find Edward just about to come and look for him.

"Ah William, another favour you could do is to help Emily collect some boiled water for Jane, she needs plenty to drink."

"All right," William nodded, although he became secretly worried about boiling water. Last time he had helped Emily, the maid, boil some in their kettle, he had forgotten to grasp the handle without a cloth and burned his hand quite badly.

As they hurried downstairs, William asked Emily, "If I am thinking about poor mamma in pain and whether the doctor will be able to ride through the mud or not, will I be able to concentrate enough on my errand not to burn myself?"

"Ooh, don' worr' yersel' wi' those thoughts Wil'yum, jus' doo what I doo an' yer'll be fine." Emily smiled in a cheery manner which surprised William, but nonetheless made him feel better.

Luckily the family had a store of water very near the house, so William only needed to put a blanket over his head to help Emily carry a bucket of the store into the house. He still worried about wet feet though, once when he had been splashing in many puddles and grown very cold after he had stayed outside carving, he had had to stay inside for a week with a very bad cold. He was frequently told that wetting his feet had caused it, so if that was true, he certainly did not want to be in bed for a week again, _especially _at a time like this.

Thankfully, William did not wet his feet too much and there was still a fire in the dining room which he could warm himself by before continuing to help Emily.

It was very laborious pouring a tiny bit of water into the kettle, waiting a few minutes for it to boil and then taking it up to Jane in a large mug, over and over again, but it distracted William enough from his worries for him to feel reasonably calm. Just as Emily was pouring water into the kettle for the fifth time, William heard the clatter of hooves on the stony entrance.

"The doctor's here!" cheered William and ran off to open the door for him.

"Wait-" Emily called, but he was already out of the kitchen and in the hallway, turning the old doorhandle to greet the man they had waited for for nearly an hour.

A wave of fear and disappointment washed over William when he realized who had arrived. He liked the messenger and his sleek dapple horse, but not now. He wanted the _doctor, _to treat Jane and make sure she did not die and make sure that his new brother or sister did not die. But instead, it was the cold, freezing messenger coming inside to speak to Mr Rochester.

"B- but where's the doctor?" questioned William in a high, nervous tone.

"He's just finishing treating someone in town," the messenger told William as calmly as he could, putting on a fake smile. "And he needs to check up on an old man's teeth, but that'll only take a few minutes. You'll see, young 'un, he'll be here in time to treat your mother."

William could not believe it. Not only was the doctor not here yet, after all this time, but he was going to take so much longer than it had already been. If the rain continued, he might not even make it through the forest, if it was too muddy and slippery.

"But if he doesn't come _now, _then he _won't make it_!" William screamed angrily.


	3. Chapter 3

"Calm down!" exclaimed the messenger, very surprised at the young boy's reaction. Usually William was such a calm, sedate boy, who worked hard in lessons with his mother and did not shout and run around the house like other little boys. Now he seemed to be overreacting slightly, unless Jane truly was in a terrible condition. "Now tell me, how ill is your mother?"

"I – I don't exactly know sir. She's screaming every now and again, but I cannot say if she desperately needs the doctor. It's just that she _is _in pain and I am very very worried for her, so I want the doctor here _now_!"

"What's going on?" a brisk voice questioned. Mr Rochester had heard the shouts and in great confusion, came down to see whatever the matter was. When he saw his messenger in the hallway rather than the doctor, he was a little disappointed, but it was what he was expecting. The town was growing bigger and bigger and there was only the doctor and his poorly-trained assistant to care for them all.

"Your son was very angry that the doctor has not come yet and is anxious for his mother."

Mr Rochester sighed and laid his hand on William's shoulder. "William, your mother has no real need for the doctor for several hours yet, it would make her feel much better if you do not shout abuse at our dear messenger, all right?"

"Yes father," replied William solemnly, relieved that they did not need the doctor as much as he thought they did.

Going back upstairs, William comforted his mother during another one of her screams, holding her hand while she was given water when thirsty by Emily, whose eyes were closing more and more as she grew tired. Edward stayed very much awake, as if he was battling his need to sleep and succeeding to help Jane.

After some time of holding his mother's hand, Jane told her son, "You need your rest, dear William. Please go to bed. If I need you, your father or Emily can wake you up."

"Thank you mamma," William smiled. He could not help feeling sorry for the very sleepy Emily, as he had the privilege of retiring to bed, but he was very grateful to be allowed to rest. If his mother did need help soon, he would have to be awake to give it to her.

William woke up when he realized that there was a strange silence. As he sat up in bed, he realized that it had stopped raining, or at least, it was not raining so hard.

"Phew, hopefully our path's still all right to travel up," thought William out loud. Opening the curtains to let in the vague light of the moon and stars, William glanced at the clock, able to tell that it was half past four.

_Half past four in the morning!_ thought William with surprise. _I never usually am up this early. If it has rained for, let's say, eight hours, then the path really will be muddy and slippery! If the doctor is not here already, which I doubt he is, then mother will not be helped in time!_

In a state of panic, William rushed into his mother's room without knocking. She was still screaming as much as she had done, but through his sleep William managed to blot it out. Now she was in constant pain, either screaming or moaning all the time.

"William, why are you up so early?" Mr Rochester questioned, thinking that his son should still be in bed.

"I woke up because the rain stopped. The path will be _so _muddy now..."

"Do not worry, the messenger has been out and back since you have been gone and the doctor should be on his way right now."

This was not the point William was making. It was _how _the Doctor would arrive rather than _when,_ that William was worried about now. Trying not to press the point farther, he asked Mr Rochester, "Should I go back to bed now?"

"Help – me. Please," groaned Mrs Rochester. William was immediately by his mother's side, holding her hand and massaging her arm like his father was doing. The boy noticed that Emily was not in the room and was glad to think that she might be sleeping peacefully at this time.

"When did the messenger come back from his second trip?" William asked Edward curiously.

"Er... At about half past two, two hours ago."

"And what exactly was the news he brought?"

"That the doctor would only be another hour or so treating other patients and then he would come straight here."

This information worried William. It would not take so long as an _hour _for the Doctor to arrive in a normal circumstance and Jane truly needed him now, she really did seem to be in terrible, constant pain.

A few minutes passed, during which William stayed beside his mother and wondered if the Doctor would arrive. Just then, Emily came into the room holding a very old, short candle, the light of which showed a surprising sight.

"Oh m' goodness!" exclaimed Emily. "I can see t' baby now!"

Edward came round to look and indeed, the baby's head could just be seen. Jane tried to smile, but knew that this would be the most difficult part of the birth, pushing and pushing so the baby's head could pass through the birth canal into his or her new world.

Edward allowed William to also have a look at his sibling. He could not believe that that small view of a tiny head, was actually of a real baby, _his _brother or sister. It was unreal, yet it was real.

The bedroom door was still open from when Emily had just come in, so the four could clearly hear the longed-for sound of a horse's hooves clattering on the gravel entrance. As the arrival of rain comes as such a blessing to a group of thirsty villagers in a desert, so the arrival of the Doctor came as a blessing for the Rochester household. William was the first to go and welcome the arrival, with Emily following close behind, crying,

"Oh dearie me, a thought 'e would ne'er come, isn't t'is a blessing, m' child?"

"Indeed!" shouted William happily, just as he unlocked the front door and opened it to the Doctor, who was just coming up to ring the bell.


	4. Chapter 4

"Hello there young..."

"My name's William, come quickly Doctor, mamma needs your help!"

The Doctor, who had been relatively calm and slow about coming to the door, noticed the worried tone in the boy's voice and rushed up, with his black bag, following William and Emily to Jane's room.

As the Doctor came in, Mr Rochester left his wife's side to welcome him and explained that his wife was in the second stage of labour and that she would need some pain relief and possibly help with taking out the baby.

The Doctor advised Emily to stop giving Jane so much water, to hear that she had had _ten _mugs during labour shocked him. "You can give her something to eat and drink _after _labour."

Edward apologized, saying it was his fault for this mistake, seeing as he was the one who suggested all this water for Jane. The poor woman in question could hardly say a word for her pain and agony.

William had no idea what to do. If he went back to bed, he might miss the birth of his brother and sister or he might not be able to say goodbye to his mother if she died. If he stayed, he might only bother Jane, as the doctor knew more than anyone how to take care of her.

Eventually, Edward realized that his son was still in the room, watching as the doctor took some herbs from his bag and put them against Jane's nose, so smelling them would distract her from the pain.

"William, go back to bed or entertain yourself, Jane will probably not be giving birth to the baby for a while. It will not be an experience for the faint and heart either, so I shall inform you as soon as you can see the baby."

William was about to complain that he was _not _faint at heart, but he thought better of it and went downstairs to read. He picked up Gulliver's Travels, set in a world just like his but with people and creatures that one could only imagine. Opening the gateway of one of his favourite fantasy worlds, William read, but after half an hour he was thinking too much of babies than of Brobdingnagians, so he put the book down and went upstairs to see how his mother was faring.

A high pitched scream shot through William's eardrums like a cannon ball as he entered the passageway beside his mother's room. Running to the room, with panic, worry, confusion and horror filling up his mind like water in a bucket, William opened the door by a tiny crack, arriving to see the doctor cutting Jane's skin beside the baby's head. He considered stopping the doctor, thinking that he might be increasing her pain unnecessarily, but he was pleased to see, once the Doctor had made the cut, that the baby was coming out much faster. The bed around Jane's legs was dyed with blood and she was panting hurriedly. Mr Rochester was on the other side of her bed with the doctor. A minute passed as William watched the baby, ever so gently, make his or her way into the world.

The Doctor was the first to hold the small, wrinkled, crying baby, covered in blood. He checked the baby's breathing and moved his limbs about, before giving him to Mr Rochester, who presently gave the baby to Jane.

At that moment, everyone noticed the heir of Ferndean, who had opened the door more to properly see the baby. Jane called, "Come, William and meet your baby sister!"

Almost as if in a trance, William walked round the bed to stand beside his mother and the little baby girl, whose eyes were tight shut like the petals of a bud. She was only gently crying, as if Jane had particularly calmed her.

"She's... Strange," commented William. "I didn't know babies looked like this. But she's very beautiful."

Jane beamed and one of her hands grasped her son's arm.

"Don't get too relaxed," the Doctor reminded Jane. "You still have to give birth to your placenta."

Jane nodded grimly. "You can have a turn holding her when I am most in pain," Jane told Mr Rochester. He smiled, gazing intently at his new child, sad that he would never see her in the same detail and beauty as his wife and son did.

William felt relaxed. It was nine o'clock in the morning, his mother had given birth and was nearly recovered. The Doctor had managed to save her and the baby was doing quite well. Like Edward, William stayed as close as possible to the mesmerizing little child, even though Jane seemed to need time by herself with the baby.

Mr Rochester, William and Jane ate some late breakfast prepared quickly by Emily and the Doctor left, wishing good luck with looking after the baby. The messenger did not need to leave Ferndean for several days now, so he relaxed and admired the new baby.

After several hours of watching and learning how to look after the baby, William went back to wood carving, finishing his duck and starting a carving of his little sister. When it was finished, when the baby was two days old, it was placed by her cradle and it survived throughout William's sister's babyhood with a few toothmarks.

Two hours after the baby was born, after thorough discussion, Jane, Edward and William finally decided a name for the baby.

"Louisa Mary Diana Rochester," announced Jane happily, rocking about the sleeping baby in her arms. The whole family was happy, Edward and Jane rejoiced in having a new baby and William was fascinated with this new life in his life. He had not known what to expect from having a baby sister, but he found it most pleasing and wonderful.

THE END

**For Bonbonnet and any others who have been following my story, I did consider continuing this further, but it did seem like a good place to end. If you feel that it wasn't enough, please demand more.**


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